Crossing Paths
by nikki-rookk
Summary: Beckett pulls her wand from inside her coat and pokes a yellow sunflower near the victims head. She finds the scene eerily familiar but can't quite pin point the thought. The Castle story inside the Harry Potter universe.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: **I obviously don't own Castle or HP. I do use some Castle dialogue almost directly from the show, and the general outline is following the show, but it's strictly to relate it to the original. :)_

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It's early morning, the sun has barely peaked its way through the tall buildings of the city, the cold misty air of late September still lurks in the shadows. A small group of people are standing in a sectioned off part of the street, yellow crime scene tape diverting the few taxi's that wander by. A tall, dark haired women comes seemingly out of nowhere and approaches the quiet scene, head bent against the chill, long beige coat billowing around her knees. Her short choppy hair cuts across her face, accenting a light scar that runs across her cheek. She flashes a small smile to the police officer standing watch and the man lets her pass. She eyes his NYPD police badge that's neatly positioned over his right shirt pocket, and just underneath it are the letters MLEP. She doesn't recognize him but he nods at her as she passes, each showing in silent agreement that they know who the other is. She approaches a dark skinned woman kneeling on the ground next to a body, she maneuvers around the few orange cones placed on the ground, and kneels down on the other side.

"What have you got for me Lanie?" She asks, eyes still on the face of the woman on the ground, blonde hair spread out in all directions, eyes and mouth open in an expression of shock.

"Good morning to you too, Beckett." Lanie takes another moment before she answers as she finishes brushing for fingerprints on the victims arm sticking out from under the black sheet that's been laid over the top of her. Lanie knows that Beckett hasn't had her morning coffee yet so she answers her question after looking at the blank look on Beckett's face. "Seems like your basic killing curse. But..." she pauses, pointing her pen at the victims face. "It seems like she was stunned before the final blow, and..." she moves her pen to point to her neck, "it looks like whoever did this to her tried to suffocate her first. My guess is they didn't want to pull their wand, maybe too many muggles near by." Beckett glances up to the surrounding buildings, noticing a bar just up the sidewalk and another down the block. She nods at the M.E. as they both stand.

"Most likely." Beckett stands and walks around the body, noticing for the first time that it isn't blood all over the ground, but red rose petals. "Any idea what these flowers are for?" She pulls her wand from inside her coat and pokes a yellow sunflower near the victims head. She finds the scene eerily familiar but can't quite pin point the thought.

"No. My guess is that those sunflowers were covering her eyes. It's been pretty windy this morning, could have easily fallen off. The rose petals are all over her body though. She's naked." This gets Becketts attention as her eyes snap back to Lanie.

"Naked?" She looks down at the body, which she thought had been covered by the black sheet to keep spying muggles from noticing the lack of wounds.

"Mhmm" Lanie responds leaning down to pick up a rose petal. "They're synthetic too, probably a conjuring charm done badly, I'd say the coloring is a little off as well." At that moment a faint pop sounds in the distant and two men approach the scene at a quick pace.

"Sorry we're late Beckett." Says the taller of the two, glancing over at his partner. "Ryan here wasn't awake when I showed up at his doorstep," Ryan just glared back at him.

"And then Espo got the address wrong and we apparated five blocks south from here." Espo just shook his head as they each flanked Beckett standing near the body.

"I was given the wrong address."

"Wrote it down wrong is more like it." Ryan retorted as he and Espo glanced around the scene. Ryan looked over at the officer standing watch. "Is it just me or does the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol get new officers every week?" He realized that Beckett wasn't listening and Lanie was staring at them like she couldn't care less. "What've we got?" He added, smiling at Lanie who just shook her head.

"Does this look familiar to you two?" Beckett asked her partners as she tilted her head and stood back to look at the whole scene. "Completely naked, flowers on her body." She looked at them as they looked up at her quizzically. They both shook their heads.

"Decided to get artistic?" Ryan asked.

"Wand backfired and shot out a whole bunch of flowers?" Espo added with a chuckle which just got a glare from Beckett.

"Honestly, don't you two read?"


	2. Chapter 2

Ryan crosses his arms over his chest, taking offense in Beckett's sarcastic tone. "What do you mean?" He asks, glancing over at Esposito who just shrugs his shoulders.

Beckett stands there, face scrunched up in thought before she holds out her left hand, waves her wand in the air and a book appears in her outstretched palm. Ryan steps closer to get a better look at the book. A bright red cover, a little worn around the edges, large letters spelling out 'Richard Castle' at the top, but he doesn't get a chance to see the title before Beckett taps the book with her wand and it flips open to a page. She hands the book to Ryan and points out the top of paragraph halfway down the page and he reads it to himself.

"Muggle literature? You read that stuff?" Esposito chimes in, still standing a little ways from Beckett in case the comment hits a little close to home. It does, he can see it on her face for a brief second before her eyes morph into her trademark glare.

"It's not muggle literature. It's _about _muggles. But it's fictional." She says, turning back to Ryan who's eyes are darting between the page and the crime scene before them.

"Same difference really. Doesn't that guy shadow muggles to write his books?" Espo nods his head to the book but Kate just shakes her head.

"Really Espo, if anyone should read them it's you. You have such a thing against muggles when there really isn't anything wrong with them." Beckett takes the book from Ryan and skims over the page herself.

"I don't have anything against them. Just... why would I want to read about fake versions of them committing murder? I deal with that stuff here at work." He waves his hand at the body on the ground, but Beckett has already given up the conversation and hands Espo the book as Ryan finally speaks up.

"It's almost like this crime scene is written word for word in that book." Beckett can't help but think Ryan looks a little pale but his face quickly changes. "You think we have a copycat?" He kneels down to poke a rose petal with his wand and Beckett nods.

"Most likely. But we should probably talk to this Richard Castle. Maybe he'd be able to help." Beckett looks at Espo to see what he thinks but he just snaps the book closed and hands it back to Beckett.

"I'll take your word for it. But who's to say the writer didn't do it?" Esposito puts his hands in his jacket pockets and walks to the other side of the body where Lanie had been standing, who has wandered off to talk to her team who have finally arrived.

"Well, he's the closest person we have to a suspect. Good news, he lives in the city. Ryan, figure out where we can find him, we'll have to bring him in to question him. Espo, go with Lanie to the morgue, she might be able to get fingerprints off the body." Beckett taps the book in her hand with her wand and it disappears. "I'll meet you guys back at the precinct in an hour." She leans a little closer and whispers between the two of them. "What's the new guys name?" She nods her head to the officer still standing at the edge of the crime scene. Espo just shakes his head but Ryan leans in.

"I think it's Jones." He says, and she nods.

"One hour." Beckett walks off after one last glance at the victim on the ground. She ducks under the police tape and nods to the officer. "Jones is it? You first on the scene?" The man nods.

"Yes ma'am. Got the call a little before five. Didn't see any suspicious activity when I got here, set up the tape and stood watch until Ms. Parish arrived. She covered the body with the sheet and started her work." Beckett nods as he speaks.

"Thank you. Jones." She nods and makes her way to the ally up the street. A few pedestrians are out walking, and if Lanie doesn't get that scene cleaned up quick they'll start to congregate around it. She slips around the corner of the ally, turns around to make sure no on is watching, and with a quick spin on the spot and a low pop, she disappears into the morning air.


	3. Chapter 3

A man stands in a dark corner behind a small stage in a room full of too many people. His dark sunglasses block out the lights directed towards the empty podium, the loud noise of chatting witches and wizards and the occasional pop and whiz make the room loud and stuffy. He glances down at his expensive watch for the fifth time in the last minute cursing his publisher for forcing him to show up this early to his own book launch. But it's almost seven, the light of the sunset barely peaking through the covered windows that stretch across the opposite wall of the room. They're probably ten stories up, so all he can see from this dark corner is the building next door, and he finds himself looking at his watch again.

"Richard, the least you could do is take off those ridiculous sunglasses." His publisher and now ex-wife sneaks up next to him while he's staring longingly at his watch and it makes him jump a bit. "That scared of me huh?" She reaches for his glasses but he turns his head.

"Gina, always a pleasure." He gives her a sarcastic grin and she just looks up at him, even the heels she's wearing barely let her reach his shoulder. She leans back against the wall, looking out at all the people anxiously awaiting for whatever speech she's going to give and whatever pathetic wave that he'll accompany it with.

"You ever going to tell me why you decided to kill off your most beloved character? Or will Derrick Storm get no explanation?" She's stalling the start of all of this, and she knows all he wants is to get it over with. He finally takes off his sunglasses and looks down at her.

"Did you even read the book? There's enough explanation. Plus, I needed a fresh start." He contemplates sliding his glasses back on but instead tucks them inside his jacket next to his wand.

"Hmmm... according to your mother this fresh start has featured you walking around your loft in your underwear avoiding your office at all cost." Her smile was evil as he looked down at her in shock. But before he could make a comment, before he could spin a wild tale that would counter whatever it was his mother had told her, she took two steps and walked up on stage. He leaned back against the wall, listening to her overused speech he'd heard her give too many times. The flashing lights of camera's already giving him a headache and he slips his sunglasses back on, not caring what Gina has to say about it. The seconds go by much faster now and soon he's taking the same few steps and walking up on stage, where the noise of the crowd gets louder, somehow the camera flashes brighter. He waves like he always does, flashes his usual smile, and then he's exiting the stage on the other side, immediately making his way to the bar where he's sure he'll find his mother.

She's nowhere to be found so he takes a seat and orders a drink, wishing his daughter was here to talk to. She usually made it to these kinds of things, but it was late September and she was already over in London starting her last year at school and he wouldn't see her until Christmas. He took out his wand and tapped his drink, putting a layer of ice at the bottom that made the fire whisky burn less as it went down. When he unscrunched his eyes from the burn, he looked up to see his mother approaching, short bob of glowing red hair bouncing with every step. He had forgotten why he went looking for her but when she approached with a smile and a wave of her arms, he contorted his face into something he hoped would show that he was mad at her, but that usually didn't work.

"Oh Richard, these things are always dancing with the most marvelous wizards of our time. You know, I'm sure one of these days that Ludwig fellow will show up." She sat down next to him and scooped up his wand off the counter to tap the empty glass sitting in front of her to fill it with water. He reached for his wand and stuffed it back in his pocket, not knowing who she was referring to.

"Don't you have your own wand?" He asked smugly, thinking of all the times she's just picked his up and waved it around, and it always surprises him how well it works for her.

"Oh of course dear but," She waves her empty hand to make him acknowledge her tight fitting dress. "It's a bit difficult to reach when it's strapped to me somewhere down there." She just chuckles to herself and waves to the bartender to bring her something stronger than water.

"Have you been telling Gina that I haven't been writing?" He leans his shoulder against the bar to watch her and gauge her reaction, but she doesn't seem to have one.

"Oh honey, I might have mentioned that you've been walking around in your underwear a bit too much for someone your age but you know," she waves her arms in the air in some significance that he has learned to ignore. "writers will be writers."

"Hmm... well I'd appreciate it if you didn't go telling my publisher about my writers block, thanks." He said, words muffled by his glass hovering by his lips. He tossed back the rest of his whisky and spun around on his bar stool to look at the crowd. He sighs, "These things are always the same. Same people, same outfits, same conversations. Signing the same thing in the same books."

"And the ever so popular 'Will you sign my chest.'" His mother chimes in with a grin.

"That one I don't mind so much." He swivels back around to look at her and his empty glass. "That's why I killed Derrick," he waves his hand, mimicking his mother in so many ways, "I was tired of the same story, the same characters."

"Just once I wish someone would come up to me and say something new." He hears someone clear their throat behind him and he swivels back around in his chair, reaching for the quill in the pocket on the front of his coat, hand stopping halfway there when he sees the woman in front of him. She's holding out a badge, it's so close to him he has a hard time focusing on anything but the word _Auror_ and his eyes dart to her lips as they part to let out words he can barely concentrate on.

"Katherine Becket, Auror department. I'm going to need you to come with me Mr. Castle." He just sits there and blinks at her, and he feels his mother lean in behind him and whisper something in his ear.

"That's new."


	4. Chapter 4

Kate Beckett stands in a small room, staring through the one way glass at Richard Castle in the room next door. She's absentmindedly tapping her wand against his file on the table behind her, which is making the pages toss and turn. When Ryan enters through the small door his eyes dart to her wand and she quickly stops.

"Not nervous are you Beckett? He's only a writer." His smirk is unbearable and she hits him with the butt of her wand.

"I don't get nervous." She retorts back, waving her wand and the stack of files rises in the air and follows her to the door.

"Does he look a bit queasy to you?" Ryan asks, leaning against the one way glass, staring intently at Castle.

"Apparently he's not good with apparation. He argued with me the moment we stepped into the ally. He's looked like that the second we landed on the precinct steps." She couldn't help but laugh a little to herself. People usually get over the sickness feeling after their first few times, but apparently not him.

She walks around the corner and puts her hand on the door handle, muttering words of encouragement under her breath before she pushes down and opens the door.

He looks up as she enters, a crooked smile spreading across his face, still a little green in his cheeks. She stands at the table opposite of him and lets the files fall in front of her.

"You look like you could use something for you stomach, Mr. Castle." She looks down at him, trying not to smile. He just shakes his head.

"I'm fine." He mumbles, sitting up in his chair, full attention on her. He sits there for a moment, and she decides to take her seat. "You know you have gorgeous eyes."

She looks at him, trying really hard not to roll her eyes because it would just draw more attention to them.

"I'm flattered." She's sizing him up, trying to figure out if he's hiding something before he tells her what this is all about. A few more silent moments pass and then she opens the file in front of him.

"You've got quite a reputation. Misuse of muggle artifacts, numerous uses of magic in front of muggles and," She flips to another file. "An entire file on muggle misdemeanors. You stole a muggle's police horse while you were naked?" The smile he responds with churns her gut a bit and she has to stand to brush it off.

"It was spring." He scratches at the scruff on his chin, she catches his fingers twitching but doesn't want to draw attention to it. She waves her wand at the file and it flips to photos of the crime scene which all pan out in front of him on the desk. She stands back a bit, giving him space, but more to give herself some space from him.

"Do you know this woman?" She points to the middle photo. "Allison Tisdale, daughter of a muggle business man uptown." He just shakes his head. "Or this man?" She waves her wand and the photo changes to a picture of another crime scene.

"No, I don't know either of them." His eyes dance to the other photos.

"Both of these people were murdered. I didn't put it together until I saw this crime scene but," She pauses as she waves her wand and a photo falls in front of him.

"_Flowers for Your Grave_." He mutters, sitting back a bit.

"Yes, and the other crime scene depicts a scene from _Hell Hath No Fury."_ She says, as she lets the photo change. She feels on a roll now, and she sits back in front of him to get a closer look at this reactions.

"Someone's a fan." He says, eyes still dancing between pictures.

"Yes, we believe someone is copying the murders from your books."

"No, I mean you." He looks up at her, blue eyes so close to hers she has to control how fast she jumps back from him. "_Hell Hath No Fury_? Come on, only the big Castle fans read that one." The smile on his face is so smug she just glares at him and decides to brush it off.

"Where were you last night between twelve pm and three am?" She doesn't break eye contact no matter how bright his eyes get. He sits back and contorts his face up in thought.

"Home, writing, or..." He gives her a sheepish smile, "pretending to write. Didn't go to bed till almost five am. My mother got in at two, you can ask her."

"This murderer is quite likely a fan of yours. Do you ever get fan mail?" She waves her wand and the files and photos organize themselves in front of her.

"You wouldn't believe how many owl snacks I give out on a day to day basis, and the state of my window ledge is horrible. And before you ask, yes, I keep it all." She just glares at him some more.

"We're going to have to look through it, see if anything is disturbing or stands out."

"All my fan mail is disturbing, it's an occupational hazard." He looks up at her as she walks to the door and knocks on it. A few short moments later it opens and the man on the other side hands her a wand and a piece of paper. She reads it as she walks back over to the desk. She looks at the wand in her hand, a delicate dark cherry wood, warn but well taken care of. Incredibly simplistic, something she hadn't expected to come with the wild reputation of Richard Castle. He catches her staring at it.

"Yes I know, simple, why don't I just go out and buy a new one with the buckets of money I have." He says it sarcastically like he's heard it a thousand times.

"I wasn't going to say that. Tests came back, shows you haven't even cast a spell in the last sixteen hours." She looks up at him a little taken aback by what she's read. He just shrugs his shoulders.

"You'd be amazed at what you can do without a wand Ms. Beckett. Or can I call you Kate?" He stands with a grin on his face.

"It's Beckett." She says firmly as she hands over his wand. He takes it and swiftly places it back in his jacket pocket. "We'll send someone over soon to pick up your mail." He nods at her as she opens the door for him to leave.

"It's been nice meeting you Beckett." He says, and makes his way out the door and across the floor of the bull pen. She watches him all the way to the elevator that is rarely used. He pushes the button and waits patiently for it to arrive. She looks away to put a file in a slot on the wall and when she looks back up, he's staring at her from across the room and doesn't look away until the elevator door shuts in front of him.

"Odd guy." Ryan comes up beside her and makes her jump. She hates it when they get the best of her like that. She turns to him.

"The guys barely a wizard at all." Espo adds as he exits the observation room with a coffee cup floating in front of him. Beckett just looks at him.

"Ya well Espo, not everybody uses magic for every little thing they do."


	5. Chapter 5

All of Richard Castle's books are spread out over Kate's desk. She'd been flipping through them all day while she waited as patiently as she could for Ryan to come back on news of their only suspect, the man behind the books she was analyzing. She knew most of them by heart, but a fresh reminder never hurt anyone. She looked at the books, picked up a few, and headed over to Ryan and Esposito who had settled themselves into their desks adjacent from one another to start wrapping up for the night. She sat two books down on Ryan's desk and one on Espo's.

"I think it's wise to read up on some of Castle's books. We let one murder go unsolved under our noses because we didn't notice this connection. Two have already happened, there could be more." She leaned against Ryan's desk as he picked one up.

"From the personal library of Katherine Beckett. Well will you look at that." Ryan looked up at her with a smirk and she lightly hit him on the shoulder with the other book.

"What Ryan, am I not allowed to own books now?" Espo spun around to point at her desk.

"No, it just seems like you own _a lot_ of these particular books."

"So I'm a fan of the genre." She was avoiding there eyes and she knew it was her tell but they dropped it. She picked up the silver eagle sitting on Ryan's desk. At her touch it stretched its wings and flapped them a few times before becoming still again. She glanced over at her matching lion that was sitting on her desk, and sat the eagle back down. "Just think it'd be a good idea to read them, and these are his less popular works and it looks like that might be where the killer is coming from." Ryan nodded as he leaned back in his chair and looked at the book in his hand. He at least seemed mildly interested, while Espo had already sat his aside and started filing through documents on his computer. "You know, for someone who dislikes muggles so much, you sure do love your computer." She threw the comment at Espo and he just smiled.

"Well I wouldn't be surprised if there's a little magic in these things." He tapped the computer monitor with his finger but kept on working.

"Well, I'll leave you two at it. Night."

"Night Beckett." Ryan said as he sat the book down and organized the mess of papers on his desk.

"Hey Beckett, you know I'm just teasing." Espo told her under his breathe as she went to walk away. She smiled down at him and nodded.

"Ya I know Espo." He was like a brother to her, and she knew it was all play in the end.

"Night." Espo said, and turned back to his computer. She walked slowly back to her desk, touching her lion figurine with her finger, making it come to life, stretching and then giving a silent roar before becoming still. The roar reminded her more of a yawn, which made her realize just how tired she was. It had been an early morning. She finished packing the rest of her books back in the box, closed her eyes and concentrated, taping the box with her wand it disappeared with a faint pop. She grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and walked to the stairs. She needed the walk, but when she came out to the dark streets of New York, she stepped behind the wall in front of the precinct, turned on the spot, and disappeared.


	6. Chapter 6

Castle turned the key to his loft and stepped inside. It was dark and quiet, and so he whipped out his wand and pointed it at the ceiling. All the lights in the entire loft came on and he huffed out a sigh. He pointed his wand again and they all went out, and he reached over and flipped the light switch, which cast the living room in a hazy yellow light. He made his way to the kitchen, taking off his jacket and throwing it on the counter. He wasn't a fan of the quiet, but had managed to get used to it over the last six years with his daughter off at boarding school in London. He checked his watch, which could tell time in three different time zones and he had one of them set for London time. It was early there, maybe too early, but he walked over to the coffee table positioned between the couch and the TV and picked up the mirror that was sitting there. He threw himself down on the couch.

"Alexis?" He whispered into the mirror. Not expecting a response he reached for the remote as he kicked off his shoes, and flipped the TV on. It came on a little too loud, and he heard a muffled mumble come from the other side of the mirror. He quickly muted the tv and looked intently at his reflection, thinking maybe he had just heard something. But then his face quickly disappeared and was replaced with his daughters, red hair glowing in the morning sunlight peaking through her window.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" He asked, seeing that her eyes were still filled with sleep. But her voice responded with much more alertness than he expected.

"No, I've been awake for a while. Needed to get some reading done before my first lesson this morning." She smiled at him and he leaned deeper into the couch with a sigh.

"I miss you Alexis." He said, finally deciding to not hide it anymore, even though he hadn't been very good at it.

"Dad, I miss you too, but it's been less than a month. I told you you can come over for the first quidditch game, it's in just a few weeks." He smiled brightly at her, warmth spreading across his chest at the idea that she didn't mind him visiting her.

"I sure do love a game of quidditch." He said, spirits already lighter, lifting the fatigue that had been slowly crawling over him.

"Where's Gram, is she home?" She asked, turning her head to see around him.

"Nope, it's just me. My book launch party was tonight. Actually..." He sat up on the couch, excited to tell her everything that had happened. "I left her a few hours ago, she went off dancing with someone she found on her greydar." This made her chuckle, he'd really missed her laugh around the loft lately. He brushed the feeling aside. "I left early actually. An auror came to get me, needed to question me about a murder that happened this morning."

"Oh no. Is everything... what happened?" She asked, concern spreading across her face. He could see her lean back into her bed, pulling up a blue and bronze blanket to block out the chill, settling in for a good story.

"I have a copycat!" He had been too excited about the idea, he had been dying to tell someone. But she wasn't as excited as he was and he knew she wouldn't be.

"Dad, that isn't necessarily a good thing." She commented, shaking her head.

"Yes yes I know that. But how cool is that though? Anyways, they naturally thought I might know something or be behind it, but I've got a solid alibi that your Gram can attest to. I couldn't really help with it though, didn't know anything about the victims or anything." His face was contorted in a thoughtful expression. "Wish I could have been more help." He whispered, just now realizing how nice it would feel to help find the killer.

"Maybe you still can? You said victims, so there have been two murders? You might be able to spot details that maybe the aurors can't?" He just looked at her. She had a really good point, he was surprised he hadn't thought of it, but he had been a little distracted.

"Hmmm... I doubt a team of aurors would allow me to follow them around. Though..." He sat up. "The minister of magic might be able to get me an in." He smiled down at his daughter who just nodded.

"Finally that connection might be able to get you somewhere besides the inside of his office." She said.

"And a fair share of galleons." He said back. The minister and him both shared a common love for a wizard version of the classic muggle card game, poker. And he'd managed to win almost every game, taking a fairly large share of wizard coins from the minister and his other poker buddies.

"Just be careful dad. Aurors, they chase dark wizards. You aren't necessarily the best at attack spells so... just be careful." Her look of concern tore at him a little.

"Don't worry Alexis. I'll be fine." He smiled down at her, all signs of sleep gone from the both of them. Alexis turned to look out her window.

"Look Dad, I'd love to keep talking but I really need to finish a reading before class starts. Talk to you soon?" She sat up in her bed now, setting the mirror carefully on her bedside table.

"Ya. And I'll definitely come over for that quidditch game" He said. She reached over to look on her wall.

"Ya, it's October fifteenth. Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw. Should be a good match." She looked back at him.

"It's a date then. See you then." She blew him a kiss and he did the same, and she disappeared from view, probably off to the library. He sat the mirror back down on the coffee table and it turned back into a normal mirror. He sat there, contemplating his discussion with his daughter, and trying to figure out the best way to contact the minister.

An owl would take too long, the case could be over by the time anything would be resolved. He doesn't have a connection to him like he does with Alexis. His next best thought was the fireplace, but it was still too early for anyone to be in. He walked over to his fireplace, looking at the measly amount of floo powder sitting at the bottom of the jar that sat on the mantle. It took a lot to travel by magic like this all the way to London. It still surprised him that it actually worked, but he'd done it on occasion. You couldn't travel your whole body through it, but sending a message worked most of the time. He basically acquainted it to a fax machine. And since he knew the Ministry of Magic barely used any muggle technology, this was his best bet.

But it was still too early and he was now wide awake. He walked himself over to his office, eyes unconsciously scanning his wall of books like he always did when he entered. He opened his laptop and turned it on. He was pretty sure that there probably wasn't another wizard in the world who liked muggle technology as much as he did. He felt so comfortable around it, and it seemed to like him much more than magic did on occasion. Like the Auror had said, he barely used his wand. Even now, it sat deserted in his coat pocket in the kitchen. He sat down and leaned back in his chair as his laptop booted, his mind still on this auror. Katherine Beckett. Her name was so... literary. He loved it. He thought of her sharp features, the faint scar that ran across her cheek, making her even more beautiful, and though he felt that this thought was cliche he couldn't help but think it. He leaned against his desk, hands fiddling with the yellow and black scarf that sat across his desk. He looked at his computer screen and the blank word document that automatically popped up every time he turned it on. His fingers twitched, just like they had earlier that day in the interrogation room. They twitched with the urge to write, and so he did. A new character was sitting at the edge of his mind and as he typed she became more real. A hard edged Auror, who was motivated to hunt down dark wizards who have killed. He imagines her being smart, fierce, and a litttle slutty.

The words flow from his fingers so freely. He hadn't wrote like this in months. The character came to life with every word and just as quickly as the character came to his head, so did her name. Nikki Heat.


	7. Chapter 7

Kate landed on the front steps of the precinct a little off balance, spilling a little bit of coffee that hasn't quite cooled off in her to-go cup. She's later than she usually is during an ongoing investigation, but she's counting on Castle's mail to be up there waiting for her. She' wrong. Well, not entirely. The mail, all three bags of it, are piled in a room with Ryan and Esposito who don't seem to know where to start. But this isn't the first thing that catches her eye when she walks towards her desk, it's the tall, dark haired, ruggedly handsome man standing in the Head Auror's office with a smug smile on his face. She pops her head through the door where Ryan and Espo are.

"Why is Castle in there with Gates?" She asks, as Ryan lazily waves his wand through the air to sort the mail.

"He arrived just after the mail did. Gates seemed a little... frazzled, when we got here. The second she saw him she ordered him into her office." Ryan just looked over her shoulder as he said this, Espo accompanying it with a shrug.

Beckett shut the door but stood idly by it, trying to catch a piece of the conversation in the room next door. But before she could hear much, Gates' head popped out of her door and asked her to come in. Trying not to fidget too much with the edge of her shirt, Beckett followed Gates into her office and stood next to Castle without making eye contact with him. Gates, a tough dark skinned woman who recently took over as head auror, wasn't one of Beckett's biggest fans. Gates had only been there for about a year, and in that time Beckett had gone rouge at least ten times. But Kate was one of the best and Gates couldn't do much about it. Gates stood behind her desk, removing her glasses and looked up at the two of them. Kate took a few steps away from Castle. Gates eyes danced to Kate.

"This morning I got an interesting call from someone who I didn't even think knew what a muggle telephone was." Her eyes danced to Castle and then back to Kate. "The Minister of Magic, the european one, has informed me that Mr. Castle would be of service to you in this investigation." Kates mouth dropped open, finally meeting Castle's eyes who just looked at her with a sheepish smile.

"Sir, I think we have this investigation under control. Mr..." Kate dared looking at Castle while she said this and when his eyes darted to her mouth she had to look away. "Mr. Castle was corporative and is no longer a suspect. I don't see where he would be able to help any further." Gates just pursed her lips at them.

"I don't care if he's useless. The Minister has insisted that we let Mr. Castle follow you on this investigation." Kate huffed out some air and crossed her arms in protest, but she could see that there was nothing she could do. She could feel Castle stand a little taller and could see the smirk of triumph on his face out of the corner of her eye. Gates stared at her, waiting for her to say something. Kate shifted her feet a little.

"Fine." Was all she could get out.

"Okay then. Mr. Castle, there is a slew of paperwork you have to fill out before you can do this. And I suggest you brush up on some defensive spells." Gates handed Castle a file of papers and nodded to the man who had appeared outside her office door. "We have someone from magical law here to go over it with you."

"Thank you... sir." Castle said with a little apprehension, learning fast, but when Gates didn't scold him for it he continued. "I appreciate the opportunity to help." He turned and left. Kate went to follow him out but Gates called her back.

"Oh and Beckett." Kate turned. Gates waved her wand and the door shut quietly behind Kate, and Kate took a few steps forward. "The Minister of Magic has informed me that Castle has gotten a new idea for a book. Something about a team of aurors and... well long story short, Mr. Castle will be shadowing you for more than just this case." Kate just looked at her.

"I thought this was just so he could help solve _this_ one." Gates just shook her head.

"He's basing his next novel off of you." She paused to let that sink in. Kate could feel the heat rising inside her as she set her jaw and tried really hard not to glare at her boss. "The minister and I both agree that it's a good idea. As long as he doesn't get himself killed, it will be good press for both the ministry and the department of Aurors. We don't have the best reputation, you know that Beckett." This was the softest Kate had ever seen Gates in the few months that she had known her, and she was taken aback. Not enough for her anger to dissipate but enough for her to take a breath.

"For how long, sir?" She asked. Gates glanced over Kate's shoulder.

"Well that will be up to him, won't it?" Kate turned and saw Castle standing on the opposite side of the door watching them. He smirked when he saw her look and held up his file of paperwork and gave her a thumbs up. Kate looked back at Gates, hoping she would change her mind now that she was seeing the man they would be dealing with, but she just raised her hand and shooed her out of her office.


	8. Chapter 8

Kate and her team, with Castle as a tag along, sat surrounding a table that was scattered with mail. Their eyes scanning page after page, reading letters and studying drawings. They'd been at it for a few hours and Kate was already feeling like it was just another dead end. She sat back in her chair and looked at the piles of letters. They had barely made a dent. She stretched a little and wished for a coffee that she didn't feel like getting up to get.

"Ryan, Espo." The boys looked up at her intently and she could see the boredom and the sleep all over their faces and it wasn't even noon yet. "Why don't you guys go canvas the area of the crime scene again. Maybe there was something we missed or..." She didn't know how to finish that sentence because she didn't really know what else to suggest. "Bring back some lunch." She added. They nodded their heads, eager to get out of this stuffy room. She knew they were itching for something to do and this was the best she could give them.

A few more moments passed before Castle let out puff of anger and tossed a letter he'd been reading in the pile of gone-through mail.

"I feel like this is useless. They're all crazy at some level, but not crazy enough to commit murder." He leaned back in his chair rubbing his stomach a little, suggesting that the idea of lunch sounded just as good to him as it did to her.

"Hmmm well this job isn't all dueling matches and man hunts. A lot of it is this. _Detecting_ as the muggles call it." She let out a sigh and set her letter down. "The only reason why they don't get to do it is because the killer was a coward and used an unforgivable curse and happened to be a wizard." Castle looked at her and tilted his head.

"You are a detective, Beckett. _Homicide_ is what they call it, but it's all the same. Someone gets murdered and you hunt down who did it." She pursed her lips.

"Ya... justice I suppose." She nodded. He was staring at her, and she didn't like it but she didn't know how to make him stop.

"Is that why you do this? Is that why you became an auror, to help bring justice to those who get killed?" The question is genuine but she doesn't care.

"I don't know Rick, why do you do this? Why are you here? You just here to annoy me?" She crosses her arms and doesn't budge. She wants to know why he is willingly throwing himself into the most dangerous line of work there is.

"I'm here for the story." He says matter-of-factly, as if that's all it could be.

"The story?" She asks with a chuckle.

"Ya, the story. There's always a story. Why someone would commit murder."

"Sometimes it's just a psychopathic dark wizard who gets their kicks out of throwing around killing curses. There isn't always a story." She picks up another letter to distract herself but he keeps talking.

"No, there's always a story Kate. Everyone's got one. Like you. What makes a girl with your looks, talent, and smarts follow the auror track instead of higher law or... I don't know, something else?" He's slowly leaning into her space and she leans back to get away from his intent stare.

"You're the novelist, you tell me." _Ya, _she thinks. _Try to write my story like you do for everything else._ She doesn't know why her first instinct is to hate him and she doesn't know what to expect when she tells him to do this, but she certainly isn't ready for what eventually comes out of his mouth. He leans back and studies her for a moment.

"Well you're American, your accent tells me that but the way you speak tells me you grew up over seas. The lion figurine on your desk tells me you went to wizarding school over there as well, so your parents must have been high up in the ministry to be American and working for the European Ministry." He pauses to think some more and Kate can feel the muscles in her face relax as apprehension settles over her. "You don't just become an Auror nowadays, there aren't enough dark wizards out there to constantly need new recruits. By the time you rose in rank, the war would have been over. Something happened to you, not directly, but to someone you cared about, a loved one. And the person responsible was never caught. That's why you're here." Kate silently cleared her throat and reminded herself to breathe.

"Nice storytelling, but you don't know me." He just sat back a little further.

"The point is that there's always a story, you just have to find it." Kate just looked down at the letter in front of her, vision blurry, she was unable to focus on anything, so she quietly excused herself and walked to the break room.

She tapped a few things with her wand which made a plastic coffee cup shoot out and hit her in the head. Before it hit the ground she aimed her wand and it burst into flames and vanished. She leaned back against the counter, angry at herself for letting him get to her, and upset that he'd managed to peg her so easily. Her stomach grumbled and she wondered where the heck Ryan and Espo were, she'd expected them to get hungry and kill the canvas early. She rubbed her eyes, her vision more blurry from being tired than the emotions swelling inside her. She was about to try and make another cup of coffee when she saw Castle come running towards her across the bull pen waving a piece of paper.

"I think I've found it!" He hands her a piece of paper as she gives up on the coffee and walks back to the room while reading it. A vivid drawing of the crime scene is sketched out amongst words and phrases. Before she can make much sense of it Ryan and Espo come walking in with a bag of Chinese food, she reaches for it but Ryan sets it on the table.

"This is going to have to wait. We canvased the area of the crime scene again and something popped. A bartender said he recognized our vic, said he called her a cab around one am. And she left with some man who wrote down this address for the bartender to tell the cabby. He fished it out of the trash." Espo holds up a piece of paper with a few lines on it.

"We looked it up, his names Charlie Donner, he's a wizard who's been living here for a few months, and boy does he have a record." Beckett looked between the piece of paper Espo was holding up and the one Castle has taken from her hands, flipping through some pages, he holds one of them up.

"He wrote this letter, look here." He handed Beckett the letter and she saw clearly how the handwriting on the two pieces of paper were the same.

"Let's go." Kate grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair and a box of Chinese food from the bag, and Castle followed them out and down the steps.

"Hey, look, I've got a car. Could we maybe drive there instead of apparate?" Castle was slowly backing away down the front steps but Beckett just smiles at him and shook her head.

"Castle, we can't just apparate to a location we know nothing about. If it's a wizards home he could have warnings or precautions, plus theres too much of a chance of splinching." He watched as she walked down the sidewalk and opened the drivers door to an unmarked squad car. He had to run to catch up before she left without him. He slid into the passenger side and looked at her.

"You know how to drive?" He asked, shocked at how quickly she ignited the engine, tossing back some chicken from her box of Chinese food.

"You'd be surprised by how much muggle technology we have to adopt in the aurors office, especially living in this city." She put the car in reverse and started backing up. "That being said, it's probably best you put your seatbelt on."


	9. Chapter 9

They park their cars at the back of a muggle apartment building and using a muggle radio, Beckett comes up with a plan with Ryan and Espo sitting in the other car a little ways down the block. When Beckett puts the radio back on the dash of the car Castle reaches for it.

"Don't touch that." Beckett says without even looking over at him. He retracts his hand quickly, not wanting to upset her when she already seemed on edge. She killed the ignition and holding up her wand muttered a few words under her breathe. Castle saw a small light come out of the tip of her wand and then it vanished. She caught him staring at her again.

"It's a shield charm. Only really good for one big blow but it can save a life." She says this while she unbuckles her seat belt. Castle moves to unbuckle his and she throws her arm out at him.

"You stay here." She says. His lower lip protrudes. He's pouting, and she can't believe she has to deal with this right now. "Stay in the car. I've read your record Castle. I don't want to rub it in too much but from what I gather you're not the greatest wizard in the world, one bad defensive spell and we could all be dead." His lips part in protest but she opens her car door before he can say anything. "Stay here." She repeats, as if he didn't hear her the first time.

_She was right_, he admitted to himself after a few minutes of silence in the car, watching her meet up with the boys on the street corner and round the building out of site. He wasn't that good at magic. Horrible when it came to anything important. He'd done lousy on his exams in school and had even been told by the minister of magic during a poker game and a few too many drinks that he was lucky he had the talent to write because he was rubbish at anything else. He huffed a sigh and sat back in his chair, looking up at the blank expanse of brick wall in front of him, the fire escape for the building ending right above the hood of the car. His fingers danced on his knees, wondering what was going on and wondering how long this could possibly take. A few more minutes passed before he heard a loud noise. He looked up and out through the windshield and saw a man hurrying down the fire escape with one shoe missing. When he looked a little closer, Castle could see he was carrying a wand in his left hand as he jumped from step to step.

Castle didn't know what to do. Beckett would possibly kill him for getting out of the car, but there couldn't possibly be too many wizards living on this block who have decided to take a leisurely stroll out their back window. His train of thought was broken as the man fell hard on the hood of the car, making Castle jump. The man looked up and saw Castle and the only thing Castle could think to do was wave. The man's face scrunched up as he tried to roll off the car and reach for his wand that he had dropped. When the man picked it up, Castle could clearly see that it was in two pieces. Castle couldn't help but smile at the thought but the man didn't wait around long, and took off down the back ally.

Castle instinctively reached for the door handle, and cautiously looking behind him, he didn't see Beckett or her team so he grabbed his wand out of his pocket and took off after the man with one shoe. It didn't take long before he heard a shout behind him that sounded suspiciously like Beckett shouting his name, but he could see the end of the ally and was sure he'd be able to catch up with the guy. He was right, but a little off on who would be doing the catching.

An arm flew out in front of him and grabbed his wrist, trying to make him drop his wand. This sent a wave of red light shooting towards the truck the guy had been hiding behind, but Castle was thankful that nothing caught on fire. He wrestled with the guy for a moment before his wand was knocked out of his grip and flew to the other side of the ally. He heard Beckett approach behind him but when she shouted out, the man wrapped his arm around Castle's neck and pointed the tip of his wand to his head. Castle didn't know what the guy was doing, there was no way his wand would work when it was clearly in two pieces, but from this angle, Beckett wouldn't be able to tell that it was broken. Beckett popped out from behind the large truck, her wand held high and pointed right at them. She lowered it a little when she saw Castle in the way.

"I told you to stay in the car." She bit at him under her breath, all he could do was manage a shrug which just made the man push his wand into his head a little harder.

"Put your wand down Charlie." Beckett's voice was commanding, Castle hadn't heard her talk like this, not even when she was interrogating him. He found it a little hot, but pushed it out of his mind. If only he could signal to her that the wand wasn't going to do much but spit out a few sparks, but he could see her trying to figure out how to make her spell count. "There's no good end in this. We know you killed her, we saw the evidence in your apartment, we've seen that you've been following her for weeks now."

Castle's eyes danced around the ground, looking for something, anything. He saw his wand near Beckett's feet, he hoped she wouldn't step on it. But then he noticed something shiny right near his right food. It looked like a broken bar off a window, and it looked heavy enough to wound someone. Castle looked back up at Beckett who's concentration was on the man gripping Castle's neck and less on Castle's eyes. He was dragged back a little, putting the metal bar in the perfect position and he stood for a moment, waiting for the man to loosen his grip. Castle felt the mans fingers move, his elbow slip, and in one swift moment he reached down, grabbed the piece of metal and swung it backwards. It hit the man upside the head, knocking the broken pieces of wand out of his hand and his whole body to the ground. He saw a red light whiz past his shoulder, hitting the man square in the chest, he went still.

"That was so cool!" Castle shouted as he took a step back running right into Beckett who forcefully smacked him against the head. "Ow." Castle let out, rubbing the back of his head.

"You could have gotten yourself killed!" Beckett was shouting in his face but Castle was having a hard time suppressing his grin.

"Nope." He bent down and picked up the pieces of wood and handed them to Beckett. "His wand snapped in half when he landed on the hood of your car." Beckett took the wand in her hand and glared at him.

"I said stay in the car." That was all Beckett could say before Ryan and Espo finally turned up, confused eyes dancing around the scene.

"What'd we miss?"


End file.
